I woke up well before the sun rose and headed up to Little Sturgeon Bay in hopes of catching some smallmouth. The wind was calm in the morning but was going to pick up quickly after just a few hours and a storm was rolling in before noon.

I launched my Jackson Kraken shortly after the sun rose and started to work the shoreline, drop-offs, and everything in between. I couldn’t see or find a fish to save my life. Not on my fish finder not by eye. They seemed to have disappeared. Some other boaters floated by and asked them if they’ve had any luck. Nothing on their end either. A boat of Musky fisherman passed me as David, another kayak angler from Wisconsin came paddling up by me with his son. As we chatted I kept working my crawfish jig along a drop off. After a couple casts I pop my jig up to find it has the weight of a log! Then it started moving!!! I set the hook nice and hard but nothing ran. I knew it was a fish because it was moving side to side but wasn’t peeling any line. I only caught a glimpse of it at first when it was in about 6’ of water and my guess was a carp by the size of it. However, the shape wasn’t right and why would a carp eat that big of a jig. Then as it surfaced I realized what it was! A massive musky!!! My first, ever!

David had a net for bass which he loaned me. It was too small for the musky but we still tried to wrangle it in so I could use myLucid Fishinggrips. No luck. Then David flagged down the boat of musky fisherman who helped net it. Surprisingly they were willing to help and were more impressed with kayak fishing than having me catch a musky right next to them. They even measured it on their bump board. A hefty 49” musky! We grabbed some quick photos and it swam off to fight again another day. It’s amazing how a slow day fishing quickly turned around to one of the best ones! Thanks for coming along!

Although starting to kayak fish in the summer of 2012 Spencer has fished since he was a kid. He fishes everything from small creeks to large lakes mainly targeting large and smallmouth bass, northerns, and anything he can convince to bite the hook. When he is not on the water he teaches choir at a middle and high school and teaches private piano lessons, and composes music. Spencer also loves working out and helping folks get healthy and fit! He lives in Neenah with his lovely wife, 2 dogs, and 4 cats.